Fundamentals of social networking and social capital within the HRD context

1. Social
Capital And
Networking
JUNARD P. DUTERTE MEEM2
Human Resource Management

2. OBJECTIVES
 Explain the connections between social capital and networking
in the present time
 Investigate on the pros and cons of building networks or
linkages using social media
 Deliberate on the current issues and goals of strengthening
social dynamics at work
 Realize the importance of a healthy social network or social
capital in relation to organizational management

3. SOCIAL CAPITAL defined…
Social capital is a special type of capital resulting from
investments in building relations, institutions and networks that
produce collaborative attitudes, shared norms and values, mutual
understanding and trust – critical factors for cooperation with other
types of capital and thus contributing to sustainable development.
– It covers significant features of social life– networks, norms, and
trust – that enable participants to act together more effectively to
pursue shared objectives and capacity-building.
– Robert Putnam defines Social Capital as “the social networks and
the norms of trustworthiness and reciprocity that arise from them.”

4. THEORETICAL CLAIMS ON
SOCIAL CAPITAL
1. Social capital has significant consequences for societal
cooperation, coordination and collaboration
2. Social capital has significant consequences for
democratic governance
3. Social capital explains variations in performance of the
government across all countries

5. CONCERNS OF SOCIAL
CAPITAL
The social capital focuses on the following critical aspects:
Who knows whom (Social Networks)
The character of these networks
The strength of our ties
Levels of trust
Levels of reciprocity

6. CLASSIFYING SOCIAL
CAPITAL
According to Rosenfeld (2007), there are two major classifications
of social capital. These are as follows:
1. Positive Social Capital that creates economic advantages
which are major forces for clustering
2. Negative Social Capital that could start developing when
there are efforts to limit membership in clusters and cultivate
insularity or lock-in.

7. TYPES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
1. Public-Regard: we are tied to formal groups (City Council; PTA;
People First; Kiwanis)
2. Private Regard: we are tied to informal groups (Church; Softball
team; Neighborhood Watch)
3. Formal vs. Informal (Bylaws & Committees vs.
Social/Interest/Hobby relationships)
4. Bridging: Social ties that attempt to cut across differences
including Race, Gender, Disability, Class, Religion, etc.)
5. Bonding: Links people together like themselves (special interest
groups, neighborhood associations, hobby clubs, etc.)

8. INTENSITY OF SOCIAL
CAPITAL
1. Strong ties: People with whom you might share intimate or
serious issues
2. Weak ties: They are more episodic and casual
Example: You share stronger ties with your doctor and weaker
ties with volunteers cooking at the pancake breakfast
3. Stronger ties: These connections are useful for creating
social support and sustained efforts; Weaker ties are more useful
for networking and job searches

9. GOALS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
Raising Social Capital to improve one’s standing in a
community (e.g. using bridging capital to increase
awareness of disability access issues in a community)
Targeted at Specific Problem-Solving (e.g. using bonding
capital to connect a job seeker with someone with similar
career goals)

10. MAGNETING INFUENCE
How can we involve others?
1. Appeal to people’s motivations (shared personal & professional
interests and self-interest, hobbies, affiliation needs)
2. Avoid yet another meeting or committee approach
3. Appeal to their civic pride
4. Make the task appear reasonable
5. Initiate small group or one-to-one Start-up conversations and
recruitment
6. Set a clear outcome
7. Satisfy people’s motivators

11. CURRENT ISSUES IN
SOCIAL CAPITAL
DISABILITY ISSUES
• Employment
• Health Improvement
• Home Ownership
• Isolation
• Asset Accumulation
• Transportation
SYSTEMIC AND
ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES
• Changing
• Outdated policy and
practice
• Turnover
• Funding
• Disconnected Personnel

12. SOCIAL NETWORKS
defined…
 Social networks are the networks formed by social ties either
online/offline. They can be ego-centric (personal networks) or
alter/community-centric. Generally, they are both personal social
network and community social network (defined by kinship, interest,
practice, or other) and hence likely know each other very well.
 A social network is a description of the social structure between actors,
mostly individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they
are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual
acquaintance to close familiar bonds.
 It is the grouping of individuals into specific clusters like small rural
communities, working units, marketing firms or a neighborhood
subdivision

13. What is NETWORKING?
Social networking is an activity aimed towards the
creation of new ties or the maintenance of one’s social
network (usually for professional advantage). It is supported
by one’s social networks. The term is sometimes liberally
used in lieu of social networks or social network sites
(SNS), e.g., ‘social networking sites’. It is more applicable
to SNS which are built primarily for the purpose of
extending one’s network for personal or professional
advantage (e.g., LinkedIn).

14. VALUING TRUST IN A
SOCIAL NETWORK
Thick Trust: where trust extends only to known
friends & associates
Thin Trust: where trust extends to include total
strangers

15. TRUST GROWING
ELEMENTS
Repeated exposure & shared spaces
Honesty in communications
Follow-through on commitments
Consistency in behavior

16. NETWORKING IN SOCIAL
MEDIA
Networking in the 21st century goes beyond actual or face-
to-face interaction with people against time and distance. With the
birth of social media and networking sites online, people may now
enjoy a convenient world of immense connectivity and influence
across continents. Nowadays, we can enrich our links or widen our
social networks at the tip of our fingertips using the internet.
However, knowing that in every blessing comes a potential threat,
we need to be careful in sharing our identities and private
information in building our online networks.

17. Social Media

18. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BOOST
NETWORKING?
Social media are websites and applications that enable users
to create and share content or to participate in social
networking.
Social media originated as strictly a personal tool that people
used to interact with friends and family but were later adopted
by businesses that wanted to take advantage of a popular new
communication method to reach out to customers.

19. 7 BENEFITS OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
Expand your reach
Channel for real-time data
collection
Transform public perception
and maximize awareness of
agency goals
Drive engagement with
limited resources and budget
Test your messaging and
analyze results
Improve your services and
customer experience
Become more authentic and
transparent information

20. COMMON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
& MORE . . .

21. CURRENT ISSUES ON
NETWORKING ONLINE
1. Identity Issues
 Problems: Child abuse, nudity and harassment
 On-line harassment or cyber stalking can range from annoying to
deadly
 Identity theft or exploitation is a major problem
 Flexibility to post inappropriate videos on YouTube
 Setting limits, choosing audience and controlling contents for safety
 Defining different levels of access is an important element

22. CURRENT ISSUES ON
NETWORKING ONLINE
2. Legal Issues
 Service account legalities, material legalities, contract issues with
the provider, copyright and trademark issues, third party issues ,
different liabilities
 Who is liable for such act?
 Trademark and copyright issues on content posted on websites

23. CURRENT ISSUES ON
NETWORKING ONLINE
3. Technological Issues
 Web 2.0 can create vulnerabilities like RSS, Trackback, Pingback,
Tagging, etc.
 A malicious advertiser creates an inappropriate tag at a page to
promote his business
 Vulnerability of attacks from online hackers

24. 10 CONSIDERATIONS FOR
ONLINE NETWORKING
1. Boundedness
– The proportion of network member ties that stay within boundaries of the social
network.
Ex. School IGP-related Social Networks
DepEd RQA Social Networks
2. Density
– Proportion of all possible ties that actually exist
– Organizational teams should be denser than one
– IT designers should create desired density, like online messaging for dense
networks and offline messaging for sparse networks

25. 10 CONSIDERATIONS FOR
ONLINE NETWORKING
3. Exclusivity
– people interact primarily one to one or are their individual contacts available to a
wider set of persons
– Examples: chain partners and C2C ecommerce
4. Social Control
– External sources create, constrain and manages a person’s contacts and
exchanges.
– Examples: Intra-organizational teams and Inter-organizational teams

26. 10 CONSIDERATIONS FOR
ONLINE NETWORKING
5. Network Externality
– Extent to which a network is useful
– Developers make sure the frameworks enable more and more usefulness
6. Range
– Large and diverse population with its boundaries. Example: School
– Network designs should address these ranges
7. Network Centralization
– Less centralized network has lesser chances of failure
– Evenly distributed nodes are better in failure scenarios
8. Degree Centrality
– Quality of connections and not their quantity

27. 10 CONSIDERATIONS FOR
ONLINE NETWORKING
9. Strength of Ties
– Probably linear combination of the amount of time, emotional
intensity, the intimacy and reciprocal services
– Network of friends should ensure provision of reciprocal services
and emotional interaction
10. Between Centrality
– Networks should be designed as minimum number of nodes in
central positions
– Shorter global path benefits the entire network

28. ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL
NETWORKING
 Exchange files or documents with the people around the world
 Employees are searched by companies (good profile)
 Access and play games
 Share experiences (music, video, documentation, etc.)
 Keep contact with family, friends, and colleagues
 Building new friendships and reconnect with the old friends
 Sharing interests and hobbies
 Allows fast, convenient, and comfortable communication
 Low costs or cheaper

29. DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL
NETWORKING
 Photos, comments, tweets, etc. that we post will be forever on the Internet
 Privacy is suddenly no longer private
 Rocketing cases of online mobbing (Cyber-mobbing) and stalking
 Cybercriminals can prey on you as a potential victim
 Hackers may access your personal account on bank or social media sites
 Alluring ads and stupid scams are becoming widespread
 Viruses and worms are deposited on websites
 Potential employers might find inappropriate information about you online

30. REFERENCES:
Barr, A., Fafchamps, M., Owens, T. (2004). “The resources and governance of non-
governmental organizations in Uganda”. CSAE Working Paper. Oxford University.
Carter, M., Maluccio, J. (2003). “Social capital and coping with economic shock: An analysis of
stunting of South African children”. World Development 31 (7), 1147–1163.
Jackson, M. (2003). “A survey of models of network formation: Stability and efficiency”.
Mimeo. Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of
Technology.
Rauch, J., Watson, J. (2004). “Clusters and bridges in networks of entrepreneurs”. Mimeo.
University of California, San Diego, California.

31. THE END!
“Educate a man that he may live for a
lifetime.”
- Chinese Proverb